JayKin – Sneaker and Video Games 2

Following the successful release of Sneakers and Video Games back in August of 2010, and the recent release of the visuals of JayKin’s latest single titled V.A.N. II,our homie JayKin is pleased to announce the release of the anticipated project Sneaker and Video Games 2 featuring Vancouver hip-hop heavyweight SonReal, the talented duo Spot & Ess, New York-based emcee Skyzoo, and BrandUN DeShay from Chicago. After giving the justalilhype! Crew an early preview before his flight to Japan, he is back to the city where the video game culture is born. Give a listen to his latest project and hit the jump for the full album review.

The project starts off with a fast-paced beat sampled from the intro of the video game company, Capcom. The simple, yet creative track Capcom sets the overall tone for the rest of the tracks, and depicts to its listeners once again on the overarching theme and concept of JayKin’s love and addiction to sneakers and video games. Following the short intro-track, JayKin jumps on to his first full-length track titled The Ceremony which have the sound of a solid anthem, but could have a stronger effect if there were hooks added on top. Browsing through the tracks, there are many interesting short skits and intermissions which features Jay playing Street Fighter, and being interrupted by phone calls, and little kids speaking about the wizard. Various of these were definitely recorded at the studio, and it is definitely a good look for JayKin to include a glimps of the creative process of the construction of the album to his fans.

Perhaps the songs with the most original flavours, and marked as the favorites of the justalilhype! Crew are V.A.N. II, which is produced by Vancouver’s well-known hip-hop producer UTURN, and Japan Love, which was introduced earlier in the year as a teaser of this whole project. The title of the song Japan Love was also used for one of the charity awareness campaigns for Japan, which certainly demonstrates the high level of respect that JayKin have on Japanese people and culture.

Even though there are only three tracks with guest appearances, they play a pivotal role in bridging hip-hop fans across North America. Furthermore, it also shows the friendship that JayKin have developed over the years in Vancouver with Spot & Ess, and SonReal through Galaga II, which inarguably is one of the strongest track of the project. With some of the greatest talents that our city have to offer, Galaga II not only features powerful lyrics from all parties, but this organic partnership proves how local artists can create good work together without compromising their own creative styles of delivery. The Come Up and The Speech are also tracks that ones should give a good listen to as it shows how JayKin is capable of collaborating with artists with a large range of lyrical abilities and skills.

While his last project Sneaker and Video Games might have not succeeded to captured the attention of the masses in a global scale, the follow-up release, which in itself is an entire album full of electro-inspired and original hip-hop beats, heavyweight features, and clever lyrics by the man himself, serves as an excellent epilogue for the video-game inspired series.

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